Natural Wonders of Honey

Natural Honey

Beautiful, golden, thick, gooey honey, the nectar of the gods – few can resist this remarkable food made by the even more remarkable honeybee.

Natural Honey

Quick Honey Facts

Honeybees flitting from flower to flower signal the beginning of spring.

Honey is produced by honeybees from the nectar of plants in one of the world’s most efficient facilities, the beehive.

To make just one pound of honey, some 60 000 bees, all female, must collectively travel 55 000 miles and visit over 2 million flowers, to gather enough nectar.

The design of the honeycomb, coupled with the air movement caused by the constant fanning by the wings if the the bees, causes evaporation to take place, creating the thick, golden liquid we call honey.

Natural Benefits

Honey we know is a sweetener and imparts a unique flavor to any dish by balancing and enhancing the flavor profiles of other ingredients used in the recipe.

Honey will act as a binder and thickener for sauces, marinades, and dips. Honey provides and retains moisture in a variety of dishes and can extend the shelf life of baked goods.

Honey should never be cooked or anything cooked with honey as it changes its structure and loses all its goodness.

Note:Honey is not recommended for infants under 18 months, nor the elderly or those with compromised immune systems.

How Honey is Made

Recipe: Baby Back Ribs with Avocado Honey

Energy Food

Honey includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, including enzymes, vitamins, minerals and water – it’s the only food that contains 'pinocembrin' an antioxidant associated with improved brain functioning.

Honey is a source of carbohydrate providing 17 grams per tablespoon and, therefore, an excelled athletic aid. For hydration and energy, add honey to your bottle of water during your next workout.

Try my favourite, peanut Butter and honey whole wheat sandwiches are a great high-energy snack providing a good combination of carbohydrates, protein and fat.

Try my favourite, honey and cream cheese as a dip for fresh fruits or vegetables.

Your favourite use for Honey

What is your normal or usual use of Honey

Honey's Natural Skin Care

Many manufacturers use honey in their products, however, it's just the beginning, as there is so much you can do yourself.

Honey is a humectant which means it attracts and retains moisture so you can add it to your moisturizer, shampoo, creams or soap at home. It also has anti-microbial properties.

Dry Skin

A dessertspoon of honey mixed with a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (a natural skin brightener). Apply to dry areas and leave for 20-25 minutes. Wipe off with a warm washcloth.

Moisturizing honey masks

Pull you hair back from your face before using the following:

1. Scoop a generous amount of honey into your hands and spread all over your face and neck. Rub it into your skin and leave for 10 – 30 minutes. Rinse with warm water.

To soften and clarify your skin, use this scrub once a week. Mix 2 parts honey with 1 part baking soda, or bicarb and rub gently, in a circular motion, into your face. This is also good as a body scrub.

Cleopatra’s bath:

Have a slave combine ¼ cup honey with 2 cups milk and few drops of your favourite essential oil, such as lavender, and add to a hot bath, sit back and relax.

Natural Honey has wonderful healing powers

Healing Honey

There are many more healing uses in ayurvedic medicine, which dates back almost 4000 years, than the few mentioned below.

1 teaspoon each of fresh ginger juice and honey two or three times daily.

Anxiety:

Mix together 1 cup of fresh orange juice with 1 teaspoon of honey and a pinch of nutmeg powder – drink twice daily.

Acne:

Raw Honey applied directly to your skin and left on for 30 minutes will over time clear your acne if it's caused by bacterial infections.

Cough Suppressant:

Take one teaspoon of honey as often as necessary.

Cough Soother Recipe:

3 green tea bags

1 cinnamon stick

3 cups boiling water

Steep the above together in a jug for about 3-5 minutes, after removing tea bags, stir in:

¼ cup honey

1-cup fresh grapefruit juice

Makes about 4 servings that you can drink throughout the day.

Top five benefits of Honey

Quick Facts on Bees

There are thousands of workers bees, a few hundred drones and one queen bee. All worker bees are female and assigned different tasks – nurses to take care of larva, construction workers to bond together the wax cells of a honeycomb, janitors to keep the hive clean, guards to protect the hive and food finders and gatherers.

The male bees or drones have no sting and don’t produce honey. Their one purpose is to mate with the Queen.

Intercourse takes place in mid-air and as a successful drone grasps the queen, and the tip of his penis is ripped off his body and left behind in the queen’s reproductive tract. The drone thereafter quickly dies. The queen mates with about a dozen drones in one flight and normally will have enough sperm to fertilize all the eggs for the rest of her life.

(According to The Biology of the Honey Bee. Harvard University Press. p.41)

Latest on Honey

A new bio-engineered product Surgihoney has been tested on babies, new mothers, cancer patients and the elderly since 2012 in Hampshire hospitals in the U.K., reports the Mail Online.

Wounds and ulcers, including those infected with the superbug MRSA healed within days and the number of women suffering infections after a Caesarian has halved.

Surgihoney also healed wounds on soldiers returning from Afghanistan, used to treat acne and protect the skin of cancer patients fitted with a catheter for chemotherapy.

Active Manuka Honey is highly effective in the treatment of burns and chronic wounds, bedsores etc., however, it is most important that you do not use the ordinary heated, everyday commercialised honey you buy off the shelf in stores.

We love it so much we are going to start raising bees next year. :) Thanks for confirming why that is a good idea.

DDE 2 years ago from Dubrovnik, Croatia

Honey is useful and you mentioned everything I needed to know about it. I always liked honey I like the photos. An informative and helpful hub.

jtrader 2 years ago

It tastes good on so many different things.

CyberShelley 2 years ago Author

billybuc, A continuance on your on going self sufficiency Bill, I admire your stuff - looking forward to reading about it. Thank you for commenting.

CyberShelley 2 years ago Author

DDE, Thank for visiting Devica, and for your much appreciated comments!

CyberShelley 2 years ago Author

jtrader, Thanks for stopping by - and yes honey is simply a marvel, the only food that doesn't go off!

Brandi Walls 2 years ago from Tennessee

I LOVE the recipes! I want to try them all! Lol. I absolutely love honey. Good for so many things! Wonderful, wonderful hub :)

CyberShelley 2 years ago Author

Brandi Walls, Thank you so much for visiting and the exuberant comments!

mgeorge1050 2 years ago from West Georgia

You have provided tons of great information in this article. I am a new beekeeper, and I am fascinated by how efficiently the bees in my hives complete tasks. The honey bee is truly a wonder of nature and should be respected by everyone. Thanks for the great hub.

FlourishAnyway 2 years ago from USA

I love honey and use it in place of brown sugar in peanut butter cookies. It makes the softest, sweetest cookies. Such interesting facts you present here, especially the facts about how honey bees mate. Ouch. Poor drones.

CyberShelley 2 years ago Author

Mgeorge1050, Thank you for the visit and the great comments. They are a wonder, fascinating creatures. You should talk to billybuc, wonderful man, and great writer, he too wants to become a beekeeper next year.

FlourishAnyway, I have just made a batch of peanut butter cookies - so I will give your idea a try. Thank you so much for visiting and the comments, much appreciated.

WriterJanis 2 years ago from California

I like to use honey when I cook. I particularly like to use it when I stir fry.

CyberShelley 2 years ago Author

WriterJanis, Thank you for stopping by and love your idea of cooking with honey in a stir fry.

AliciaC 2 years ago from British Columbia, Canada

I love honey, especially the darker kinds with a rich taste. It was very interesting to read about honey's benefits in your hub. It's certainly a useful substance! Thanks for sharing all the information.

CyberShelley 2 years ago Author

AliciaC, Thank you so much for chiming in here - I do appreciate your comments.

swilliams 2 years ago from Arizona

I love the pictures & I love honey! Great article! Voted up!

Setab 2 years ago

Thanks for this article, so much great information. I love natural remedies, voted up for useful.

Glimmer Twin Fan 2 years ago

What an interesting hub. Hopefully honeybees will be around for a very long time. I love my honey!

CyberShelley 2 years ago Author

glimmer Twin Fan, so nice to have you visit again! We have to look after them as without them pollinating we would not have anything to eat.

Anita Saran 2 years ago from Bangalore, India

Wonderful hub and I learnt so may things I didn't know about the uses of honey. I use honey regularly in my baking. It worries me that bees seem to be on their way out. I think we can help them stay by looking after our environment - such as using the right pesticides in the garden. Voted up.

CyberShelley 2 years ago Author

Anita Saran, Thank you so much for visiting and your kind comments. You are right about bees, if we lose them plants will no longer be pollinated.